Away From The Shadows
by UndeadWithoutCoffee
Summary: Sometimes the shadows of the past are overpowering Jack Malone. But there are always things that can make him happy, however dark the worries might be. J/S


**AN:** I Don't own anything. Just a little and cute scene I had in my mind.

Enjoy!

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It had been a long and tiring day in the bureau, but Jack hadn´t found any sleep yet. He had stayed up late at night since he was little. Sometimes he had shrugged off his weariness, afraid of what would come if he fell asleep, but mostly his thoughts had kept him awake. As so often over the years he was standing, once again, at the window of his bedroom, looking down on the restless city. Once in a while he took a step or two into the dark room, approaching the double-bed, only to retreat back to the window resuming his restless watch at the window, trying to shut out the disturbing thoughts that were keeping him busy.

While the never-ending flow of cars passed by, he had lost track of time. Was he standing here for minutes? For hours? He didn´t know anymore, he just saw the darkness lit by the nightly traffic. But after a while Jack didn´t pay attention to the lights of the cars and streetlamps anymore, he was absorbed once again in the thoughts he always tried to ignore, thoughts about the failures in his life: his mother´s suicide, his ex-wife Maria, the people they hadn´t found in time to save; the list seemed endless. And it were thoughts that had gained more and more control over him in moments like this, shadows.

Just as it seemed to him as if he wouldn´t find a way out of these memories he heard a quiet gurgling behind him that pulled him back from his thoughts. For a moment he was confused, not knowing where to put the sounds he was hearing, before he turned away from the window and walked over to a wooden crib that was standing in the corner of the room.

A little smile crept over his pale and wary face as he looked down at the infant in the cradle. The baby boy was wearing a light blue romper suit with a bear on his chest and a blanket was keeping the small body warm. For a moment, Jack only watched the infant who was struggling with the blanket, before he picked the little boy up and started to rock him in his arms. At first it seemed as if the baby would start to cry but after he was picked up, he snuggled into Jack´s arms and fell silent, calming down and finally fell asleep again.

As Jack saw, that the little boy had drifted into his dreams again, he walked over to a comfortable chair that was standing beside the crib and sat down with the infant. While holding the little boy in his arms he remembered the time when his girls, Hannah and Kate, had been babies: He had often sat awake when they were crying during the nights and he remembered how exhausted he and Maria had been. It was a stressful time, and maybe that was one of the reasons beside their strenuous jobs why their marriage had failed. But even though he was still thinking about the reasons for their break-up sometimes, he knew he had moved on. A glance at the infant in his arms made him sure that what happened had been the right thing.

For him the little being in his arms was still a wonder, just like his girls had been, and he loved the baby more than he could say. Once again he got lost in his thoughts, but this time it were happy ones and after a while he felt that the warmth coming from the child he held was spreading. He felt that, finally, the calm atmosphere made him tired. Maybe he would soon be able to sleep.

"Jack?"

As he heard the dozy voice, Jack looked up from the baby in his arms towards the bed: Samantha´s long blond hair shimmered as once again cars passed by, their lights shining through the window. While sitting up, she swept her hair out of her face and turned towards the crib and the chair where she assumed Jack was sitting.

"It´s okay honey, I´ll just put our little one to sleep." Jack replied and got up from his chair. Carefully he placed the infant back into his crib and covered him with the blanket, before he went over to the bed. With a soft smile he placed his arms around Samantha and together they snuggled into the bed, just as they had done when their affair was still going on. Only this time it wasn´t an affair anymore. They were together now, and they had a son.


End file.
